An example of the article transport facility including a plurality of main paths as described above is disclosed in JP 2013-184762A. In FIG. 1 of the patent document, a plurality of relatively small loop-shaped paths correspond to the first main path and the second main path, and those paths included in a relatively big loop-shaped path that connect the small loop-shaped paths correspond to the sub-path. Along the small loop-shaped paths corresponding to the first main path and the second main path, the article transport vehicle travels in the same direction in a circulating manner.
In such an article transport facility, the circulating direction of the article transport vehicle along the first main path and the circulating direction of the article transport vehicle along the second main path may be opposite. In this case, it is conceivable to connect a sub-path 107 to a first main path 105 and a second main path 106 as shown in FIG. 10. That is, it is conceivable that the sub-path 107 includes a first sub-path 107a along which the article transport vehicle travels from the first main path 105 toward the second main path 106, and a second sub-path 107b along which the article transport vehicle travels from the second main path 106 toward the first main path 105, and the first sub-path 107a and the second sub-path 107b are arranged along the path width direction (Y) of the sub-path 107.
However, the ends of the first sub-path 107a and the ends of the second sub-path 107b are formed in an arc shape in plan view so as to allow the article transport vehicle to smoothly transfer between the first main path 105 and the second main path 106. Accordingly, in the case of arranging the first sub-path 107a and the second sub-path 107b in the path width direction of the sub-path 107 in this way, a wide space (W2) is required in the path width direction (Y) to provide the sub-path 107. It is also conceivable that, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the arc-shaped ends of the first sub-path 107a and the second sub-path 107b are arranged in an inclined orientation, and the linear portion of the first sub-path 107a and the linear portion of the second sub-path 107b are arranged in the vertical direction so as to be positioned in a stepped manner. However, when the first sub-path 107a and the second sub-path 107b are positioned so as to be arranged in the vertical direction in this way, a wide space is required in the vertical direction Z to provide the sub-path 107. Also, the sub-path 107 has a three-dimensional intersection structure, and becomes more complex.